Sinking the Bismarck. Fairey Swordfish VS Battleship Bismark. A WWII pilot recalls the attack on the battleship Bismarck and the aftermath.
The Royal Navy's biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers were flung against Nazi Germany's finest battleship - the Bismarck - in a desperate bid to prevent it from wreaking havoc on vital supply convoys.
The Swordfish was underrated. It represented the pinnacle of biplane technology. It was big. It was strong. It could fly in atrocious weather. Its nickname "Stringbag" was derived from its ability to carry almost anything. It was also fitted with a world-first-air-to-surface (ASV) radar.
The Bismarck was a marvel of German engineering. It was big at 41,700 tons. It was fast at 30kts. It was heavily armed. It had modern anti-aircraft directors and guns. It also had a torpedo defense system capable of withstanding a 550lb TNT blast.

The battleship Bismarck deserves the attention of all serious historians, for she was the primary protagonist of one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II. Bismarck's shining adventure in the Atlantic marked one of the few times during World War II that a sole battleship attempted to maintain its traditional role as king of the seas. The ship's tragic fate served as a death knell for an era that stretched back to the 1850s. The days of big guns and stout armor gave way to aircraft, torpedoes, and bombs. Yet for a brief but intense service period, the Bismarck was the largest, most powerful, and for many, the most beautiful warship afloat. Unlike her sister-ship Tirpitz, or the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi, which were all sunk without the opportunity to engage enemy battleships, the Bismarck fought valiantly against a far superior enemy and was eventually defeated in one of the most astonishing battles ever waged. As in the old days, the ship dueled the British battle cruiser Hood and her consort, the battleship Prince of Wales. Six minutes later the Hood was torn in half by a devastating magazine explosion, and the Prince of Wales was forced to break away. But not merely the worldwide publicity after sinking the Mighty Hood earned Bismarck a place in history. It was also the enormous amount of human and material resources utilized for hunting down and destroying this modern leviathan.

The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as several overseas operators, including the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Royal Netherlands Navy. It was initially operated primarily as a fleet attack aircraft. During its later years, the Swordfish was increasingly used as an anti-submarine and training platform. The type was in frontline service throughout the Second World War.

Despite being outmoded by 1939, the Swordfish achieved some spectacular successes during the war. Notable events included sinking one battleship and damaging two others of the Regia Marina (the Italian navy) during the Battle of Taranto, and the famous attack on the German battleship Bismarck, which contributed to her eventual demise. Swordfish sank a greater tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft during the war. The Swordfish remained in front-line service until V-E Day, having outlived some of the aircraft intended to replace it.

General characteristics

Crew: 3 - pilot, observer, and radio operator/rear gunner (observer's position frequently replaced with auxiliary fuel tank)
Length: 35 ft 8 in (10.87 m)
Wingspan: 45 ft 6 in (13.87 m)
Width: 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m) wings folded
Height: 12 ft 4 in (3.76 m)
Wing area: 607 sq ft (56.4 m2)
Airfoil: RAF 28
Empty weight: 4,195 lb (1,903 kg)
Gross weight: 7,580 lb (3,438 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Pegasus IIIM.3 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 690 hp (510 kW)
Propellers: 3-bladed metal fixed-pitch propeller
Performance

Maximum speed: 143 mph (230 km/h, 124 kn) with a torpedo at 7,580 lb (3,438 kg) and 5,000 ft (1,524 m)
Range: 522 mi (840 km, 454 nmi) normal fuel, carrying a torpedo
Endurance: 5 hours 30 minutes
Service ceiling: 16,500 ft (5,000 m) at 7,580 lb (3,438 kg)
Rate of climb: 870 ft/min (4.4 m/s) at 7,580 lb (3,438 kg) at sea level
690 ft/min (210.3 m/min) at 7,580 lb (3,438 kg) and 5,000 ft (1,524 m)
Armament
Guns: ** 1 × fixed, forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun in the upper right fuselage, breech in the cockpit, firing over the engine cowling
1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis or Vickers K machine gun in the rear cockpit
Rockets: 8 × "60 lb" RP-3 rocket projectiles (Mk.II and later)
Bombs: 1 × 1,670 lb (760 kg) torpedo or 1,500 lb (700 kg) mine under the fuselage or 1,500 lb total of bombs under fuselage and wings.